4/27/12

In the early 70's I worked for Norton Co. as a quality control supervisor on the overnight shift. My area of supervision was the cloth finishing department. You know, Emery cloth and the like. It was a difficult job and at times very, very stressful, but it did have its upside. The people I worked with were an unusual bunch of peculiar people. The MOST MEMORABLE of which was a man named Mike. He had a odd way of mixing the most outlandish behavior with genuine insight and profound wisdom. He would say things like: "You can say anything you like as long as it is the truth and you smile a little too much" or "Never tell an idiot that he is an idiot, all you are going to do is remind him and that will make him mad." When I saw this saying of Mark Twain (who also had a memorable sense of humor) I thought of this verse from the book of Proverbs....

Proverbs 15:1

1 A gentle answer turns away wrath,

but a harsh word stirs up anger.

There are so many people who don't think before they talk or act that you will encounter them; probably on a weekly basis at least. When this happens the worst thing you can do is match their volume and anger level. The softer you speak (if at all), the better. There is a right way to handle (idiots, stupid, obnoxious, foolish or arrogant aggressive) them and Proverbs has the answer. You might also want to listen to Mark Twain and even somebody like my friend (yes, he was my friend) Mike. Wisdom comes in packages of all shapes and sizes, so listen, somebody may actually teach you something. And smile, the bigger and more exaggerated the better!!!!!

Deu
9:1 Hear, Israel: you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in
to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities
great and fortified up to the sky,

Deu
9:2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know,
and of whom you have heard say, Who can stand before the sons of
Anak?

Deu
9:3 Know therefore this day, that Yahweh your God is he who goes
over before you as a devouring fire; he will destroy them, and he
will bring them down before you: so you shall drive them out, and
make them to perish quickly, as Yahweh has spoken to you.

Deu
9:4 Don't say in your heart, after Yahweh your God has thrust them
out from before you, saying, For my righteousness Yahweh has brought
me in to possess this land; whereas for the wickedness of these
nations Yahweh does drive them out from before you.

Deu
9:5 Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your
heart, do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of
these nations Yahweh your God does drive them out from before you,
and that he may establish the word which Yahweh swore to your
fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Deu
9:6 Know therefore, that Yahweh your God doesn't give you this good
land to possess it for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked
people.

Deu
9:7 Remember, don't forget, how you provoked Yahweh your God to
wrath in the wilderness: from the day that you went forth out of the
land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious
against Yahweh.

Deu
9:8 Also in Horeb you provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was angry
with you to destroy you.

Deu
9:9 When I was gone up onto the mountain to receive the tables of
stone, even the tables of the covenant which Yahweh made with you,
then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I did
neither eat bread nor drink water.

Deu
9:10 Yahweh delivered to me the two tables of stone written with the
finger of God; and on them was written
according to all the words, which Yahweh spoke with you on the
mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

Deu
9:11 It came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that
Yahweh gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the
covenant.

Deu
9:12 Yahweh said to me, Arise, get down quickly from hence; for your
people whom you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted
themselves; they have quickly turned aside out of the way which I
commanded them; they have made them a molten image.

Deu
9:13 Furthermore Yahweh spoke to me, saying, I have seen this
people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people:

Deu
9:14 let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name
from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and
greater than they.

Deu
9:15 So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain
was burning with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my
two hands.

Deu
9:16 I looked, and behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God;
you had made yourselves a molten calf: you had turned aside quickly
out of the way which Yahweh had commanded you.

Deu
9:17 I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two
hands, and broke them before your eyes.

Deu
9:18 I fell down before Yahweh, as at the first, forty days and
forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water; because of all
your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight
of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.

Deu
9:19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, with which
Yahweh was angry against you to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to
me that time also.

Deu
9:20 Yahweh was very angry with Aaron to destroy him: and I prayed
for Aaron also at the same time.

Deu
9:21 I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burnt it with
fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as
dust: and I cast its dust into the brook that descended out of the
mountain.

Deu
9:22 At Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth Hattaavah, you
provoked Yahweh to wrath.

Deu
9:23 When Yahweh sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, Go up and
possess the land which I have given you; then you rebelled against
the commandment of Yahweh your God, and you didn't believe him, nor
listen to his voice.

Deu
9:24 You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I
knew you.

Deu
9:25 So I fell down before Yahweh the forty days and forty nights
that I fell down, because Yahweh had said he would destroy you.

Deu
9:26 I prayed to Yahweh, and said, Lord Yahweh, don't destroy your
people and your inheritance, that you have redeemed through your
greatness, that you have brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty
hand.

Deu
9:27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; don't look
to the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to
their sin,

Deu
9:28 lest the land whence you brought us out say, Because Yahweh was
not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and
because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the
wilderness.

Deu
9:29 Yet they are your people and your inheritance, which you
brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.

Deu
10:1 At that time Yahweh said to me, Cut two tables of stone like
the first, and come up to me onto the mountain, and make an ark of
wood.

Deu
10:2 I will write on the tables the words that were on the first
tables which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.

Deu
10:3 So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tables of stone
like the first, and went up onto the mountain, having the two tables
in my hand.

Deu
10:4 He wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten
commandments, which Yahweh spoke to you on the mountain out of the
midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and Yahweh gave them to
me.

Deu
10:5 I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tables in
the ark which I had made; and there they are as Yahweh commanded me.

Deu
10:6 (The children of Israel traveled from Beeroth Bene Jaakan to
Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his
son ministered in the priest's office in his place.

Deu
10:7 From there they traveled to Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to
Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water.

Deu
10:8 At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi, to bear the
ark of the covenant of Yahweh, to stand before Yahweh to minister to
him, and to bless in his name, to this day.

Deu
10:9 Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his
brothers; Yahweh is his inheritance, according as Yahweh your God
spoke to him.)

Deu
10:10 I stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and
forty nights: and Yahweh listened to me that time also; Yahweh would
not destroy you.

Deu
10:11 Yahweh said to me, Arise, take your journey before the people;
and they shall go in and possess the land, which I swore to their
fathers to give to them.

Deu
10:12 Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to
fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and
to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

Deu
10:13 to keep the commandments of Yahweh, and his statutes, which I
command you this day for your good?

Deu
10:14 Behold, to Yahweh your God belongs heaven and the heaven of
heavens, the earth, with all that is therein.

Deu
10:15 Only Yahweh had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he
chose their seed after them, even you above all peoples, as at this
day.

Deu
10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no
more stiff-necked.

Deu
10:17 For Yahweh your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the
great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn't regard persons,
nor takes reward.

Deu
10:18 He does execute justice for the fatherless and widow, and
loves the foreigner, in giving him food and clothing.

Deu
10:19 Therefore love the foreigner; for you were foreigners in the
land of Egypt.

Deu
10:20 You shall fear Yahweh your God; you shall serve him; and you
shall cling to him, and you shall swear by his name.

Deu
10:21 He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you
these great and awesome things, which your eyes have seen.

Deu
10:22 Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and
now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of the sky for
multitude.

"THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW"
Chapter Nine
Back in Capernaum, Jesus’ ministry in Galilee continued with both
forgiving and healing a paralytic (1-8). Matthew the tax collector was
called to be a disciple, who invited Jesus to his home where He was
questioned by the Pharisees and disciples of John (9-17). Asked by a
ruler to go and raise his dead daughter, Jesus did so, healing a woman
with a flow along the way (18-26). Afterward Jesus healed two blind men
and a man who was both mute and demon-possessed (27-34). He then went
about the region, teaching and healing, moved with compassion for the
multitudes that came to Him (35-38).
POINTS TO PONDER
* Jesus’ power to forgive sins
* His willingness to eat with sinners
* His compassion for the lost
REVIEW QUESTIONS1) What are the main points of this chapter?
- Five miracles in Capernaum of Galilee - Mt 9:1-8,18-34
- The call of Matthew and the questions at his house - Mt 9:9-17
- The itinerant teaching and healing in cities and villages - Mt
9:35-382) List the five miracles recorded in this chapter (1-8,18-34)
- Jesus forgives and heals a paralytic
- Jesus heals a woman with a flow of blood
- Jesus restores a ruler’s daughter to life
- Jesus heals two blind men
- Jesus heals a man mute and demon-possessed
3) How did Jesus demonstrate His power to forgive sins? (6)
- By healing a paralytic
4) Who was called to be a disciple and then gave a feast at his house?
(9-10)
- Matthew, also known as Levi, author of this gospel (cf. Lk 5:27-29)
5) What two groups confronted Jesus regarding what two issues? (11-17)
- The Pharisees, concerning eating with sinners
- The disciples of John, concerning fasting
6) What explanation did Pharisees give for Jesus’ ability to exorcise
demons? (34)
- "He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons."
7) What moved Jesus to call for prayer for more laborers? (36-38)
- Compassion for the multitudes who were like sheep without a
shepherd